Here is some practical information which will help to make your sledge tour an even greater pleasure as, if you follow this advice, you will help the sledge driver and also ensure that you do not get too cold or injure yourself.
-The passenger sits at the back of the sledge, the driver sits at the front and steer the dogs.
-Sit with your legs up on the sledge so that your feet will not knock against stones, ice, or similar.
-In uneven terrain or going uphill you must keep tight hold of the strings that secure the skin you are sitting on. Never hold the sides of the sledge as your fingers may be injured.
-In uneven terrain you can help the driver to keep the sledge on an even keel by leaning to one side or the other.
-When driving on ice you must pass cracks now and then. Remain sitting on the sledge unless the driver tells you to get off, it is easier to negotiate cracks sitting on the sledge than to jump over!
-If you are driving straight ahead in easy terrain, you can change position and sit on the sledge sideways.
-On the way up steep hills you can walk behind the sledge and hold on to the post.
- If it is cold you should get off at regular intervals and run behind the sledge for a while, keep hold of the post if you will. Do not be afraid of being left behind, the driver will wait for you!
-Never go near the dogs unless the driver says you may.
-Never give the dogs scraps from your food.
-Wear sunglasses and use a high protective factor, water-free sun lotion.
-Cameras and video equipment should be kept inside your outdoor cloth so that the battery effect will not be reduced due to the cold.
-Packed lunches are best kept under your outdoor cloth or in a bag.
-Please remember that alcohol should not be drunk at low temperatures. Coffee and tea are taken along on longer trips.
-The sledge driver does not expect tips or gifts.
Two hour dog sledge tours are available in three types - two easy and one more exacting:
The easy trips:
The more difficult trips:
DOG SLEDGE TOURS - 3 HOURS
The sledge tours above can be extended to three hours.
Tour information JAV23
DOG SLEDGE TRIPS IN THE MIDNIGTH SUN
We fly in the morning direct to Sermersuaq where we land. After arrival coffee / tea will be served and we move into the newly-built hut. Now we have the whole day at our disposal and we can take a walk, ski or take a trip on a snow-mobile on this enormous glacier. We lunch in the hut or you can take a packed lunch with you.
After dinner, we harness the dogs to the sledge around midnigth and set off in the beautiful midnigth sun for an hour’s drive over the ice. After the trip we may feel like a bowl of soup or a cup of coffee before making use of the bunks. After coffee next morning we begin to make ready to take the helicopter back to Ilulissat.
Skis and snow-scooters with driver can be rented at Sermersuaq, sleeping bags can be rented from Ilulissat Tourist Service
Tour number: JAV18.
You will be fetched from your hotel and be driven to the starting point of the tour. Guests will be assigned to a sledge and instructed in being a passenger.
And off we go at top speed, as the dogs want to get going. The first part of the journey will be in easy mountain terrain until you go on to the sea ice at Bredebugt.
After some distance on the sea ice you will again be driving on frozen lakes and in mountainous terrain. During the period February to April there will be a visit to real igloo which you can crawl into and photograph. The tour continues in mountainous terrain and again across the sea ice to the village of Oqaatsut/Rodebay. Here you will be invited in “coffemik” with coffee and cakes by the local women’s association and here you can also eat your packed lunch.
After an hour’s stay at Oqaatsut, the tour returns to the sea ice and back towards Ilulissat. On route you can visit one of the fishermen fishing for halibut with a long line through a hole in the ice you can see how they go about things.
The tour normally ends at Kirkebugten, from where you can walk back to the hotel - or be fetched and driven back.
Tour number: JAV23.
NB: The route may be changed if ice and snow conditions make it necessary.
3-4 DAY DOG SLEDGE TOUR TO ILULISSAT GLACIER
Day 1:
Drive across the plain behind town to the “Great Akinaq” mountain where you will drive to the top, approximately 300 metres above sea level. From here there is a wonderful view across Ilulissat, the outlet of the ice fjord and a large part of Disko Bay. After a short break you continue in varying, but easy terrain for a few more hours until you begin to descend again. Here the dogs must run behind the sledge to reduce the speed down the steep slopes.
Soon afteryou will arrive at a hunting cabin where the sledge is unpacked and the tour continues out to the ice fjord fishermen so that you can see how
they work and possibly help and receive some fresh fish for dinner. Back to the hut where you cook on the primus and sleep in the hut or in a tent outside, if the hut is occupied by fishermen/hunters.
Day 2:
The sledges are packed again and the tour continues across the fjord to Nunatarsuaq which is an “island” bordering on the inland ice and the ice fjord. The journey continues up on to this island and over the mountain to a little valley where you will camp. From here it is possible to drive most of the way to the glacier, but on the last leg the dogs must be parked and you must walk to a lookout point with its fantastic view of the llulissat glacier. The Ilulissat glacier is the world's productive, creating 20 millions tonnes of ice a day, boy it is not so active at the front during the winter. After a break here, there is a walk/drive back to the camp where a much needed meal can be prepared and the night spent in a tent.
Day 3:
You drive all the way “home” to llulissat, the journey takes about 8 or 9 hours with a short break at the cabin where lunch
can be eaten.
Tour number: JAV27.
THE TOUR CAN BE EXTENDED TO FOUR DAYS
Instead of returning home on the third day you can drive to the hut at Augertartup Qeqertaa and stay here for the night. On the fourth day you can drive along the sledge track via the village of Opaatsut to Ilulissat. This tour begins with a climb up “The Heaven Path”, a long, steep hill. At the top you discover a magnificent view over the “Dead Glacier” and the inland ice. The tour continues through mountainous terrain, frozen lakes and sea ice to Oqaatsut, where there is a break so you can see what life is like in a little fishing/hunting community.
DOG SLEDGE EXPEDITION ILULISSAT - UUMMANNAQ
Day 1:
Arrival at Ilulissat, transfer to hotel. Briefing by Ilulissat Tourist Service including information on the town and the programme for the coming days.
Day 2:
This day will be spent preparing the expedition, together you will buy provisions and check the equipment so that you are certain everything is in order for the tour. You hold a meeting with the sledge driver and go over the route together. The rest of the day is free and you is free and you can look around Ilulissat.
Day 3:
After breakfast the group will be fetched from the hotel and driven to the starting point for the dog sledge expedition. The sledges must be packed and the adventure can begin! The dogs are eager to get started and go off at a fine rate, but soon the tempo slackens to a more modest pace. First stop is the village Oqaatsut/Rodebay, roughly 15 km. north of Ilulissat. Attractive surroundings and very quiet and you will gain tour first impression of village life in Greenland. We take a bite to eat and make coffee on a primus before starting off again across the sea ice to Appat/Ritenbenk, a deserted village where we spend the night in a hunting cabin.
Day 4:
As the area around Ritenbenk is delightful with plenty of animal life we will spend the day here and go seal hunting or fish through holes in the ice. The day’s bag will be prepared for dinner.
Day 5:
We continue towards the Nuussuaq peninsula and make a short stop on route at the village of Qeqertaq, another typical small village where the local inhabitants live by fishing and hunting. Lunch and a little rest for the dogs.
The journey continues towards the Nuussuaq peninsula to Majoriaarsuatsiaq which is 800 metres above sea level. This ascent is long and physically demanding as it is necessary to walk by the sledge in many places. But the reward is the fantastic view from the top across the surrounding mountains and the frozen fjord south and north of this beautiful peninsula.
Spend the night in a hunting cabin or tent.
Day 6:
We continue towards the fjord on the other side of the Nuussuaq peninsula towards the village of Ikerasak which is 43 km. south of Uummannaq and a neighbour of the world’s fastest glacier which moves at a speed of 32 meters per day. This part of the journey goes across the sea ice and is characterised by frozen ice floes and huge icebergs- driving through this landscape is a fantastic experience.
Spend the night at Ikerasak.
Day 7:
The area around Ikerasak is rich in halibut and we will therefore spend the day doing some ice fishing. at the fishing ground we will cook on the primus and everyone must lend a hand cleaning the fish.
We spend the rest of the day at Ikerasak and we will spend another night here.
Day 8:
We go on towards Uummannaq which we should reach after 4-5 hours’ drive. We may be overtaken by a car as it is permitted to drive cars across the ice to the villages in this area. Safely arrived at Uummannaq, we “park” the dogs on the ice in front of the town and the group will stay at Hotel Uummannaq. We can finally take a bath and then enjoy a good dinner at this comfortable hotel with a good view of the harbour.
Day 9:
Uummannaq is known for its 1,100 metre high, heart-shaped mountain (Uummannaq means “the heart-shaped”) which distinguishes the island the town is situated on. If we go father up the mountain we can enjoy the unique view across town, the fishing ground and the Uummannaq fjord which is surrounded by lofty, snow covered mountains. The complete silence is only broken by the barking of a dog in the town. After another eventful day we spend one more night at Hotel Uummannaq.
Day 10:
Transfer Hotel Uummannaq to the heliport. The helicopter trip to Ilulissat is formidable - we fly above 1,900 metre high mountains and can see the dog sledge route from above. After arriving at Ilulissat, transfer to the hotel and we check in again. The rest of the day can be spent taking another look at Ilulissat. We could also take a pleasant walk to Sermermiut, a 4,000 year old settlement at the outlet of the ice fjord, or visit the museum, the house where Knud Rasmussen was born and our beautiful Zion Church from 1779.
Day 11:
The whole day can be spent as you please. A helicopter trip to Ilulissat Glacier, for instance, which is the world’s most productive glacier with its 20 million ton of ice per day, corresponding to New York’s annual water consumption. Ilulissat is a town where old and new meet. If functions as a modern town with a great deal of productivity within the fishing industry , yet life is still old fashioned with many ancient traditions.
On the final evening in Greenland, a “Greenland evening” will be arranged at the hotel where the menu will consist of Greenlandic delicacies such as dried fish, mattak (whale skin), whale meat, seal meat and so on. After dinner there will be entertainment by the local folk-dancing groupe who will demonstrate various dances. The 10-12 dancers wear beautiful Greenland national costumes.
If you wish, you can join in the dancing.
Day 12:
Transfer to the airport for check in. Flight to Copenhagen via Kangerlussuaq.
Tour number: JAV28.
Please contact us for further details and booking
Ilulissat Tourist Service
P.O. Box 272
DK-3952 Ilulissat
Greenland
E-mail: ilulissat.tourist@greennet.gl
Phone: +299 4 43 22
Fax: +299 4 39 33
When calling from abroad, please note
the time difference to Greenland
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